Open-Face Plum Cake

Zucchini Bread

Fig and Fennel Salad

Thai Pumpkin Soup

Homemade Quince Paste

Rum Bundt Cake

Corn Chowder

Corn Pudding

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I realized today that I don't know how to make a quesadilla. This is what I did: I briefly warmed two soft, corn tortillas in a dry nonstick pan. Then, I took them both out of the pan and covered one with grated cheese and one half of an avocado thinly sliced. I put a little oil in the pan. I covered the cheese and avocado with the remaining tortilla, and placed the whole thing in the frying pan. I weighed down the tortillas with a nonstick pan and ate the remaining half of the avocado sprinkled with salt — best snack ever — while I waited for my quesadilla to finish cooking.

Now, it wasn't that my quesadilla didn't taste good, it was just that it tasted different. Maybe it was because I used corn tortillas (from Trader Joe's, which are delicious ... thanks for the tip Aunt Vicki) instead of flour? Maybe it was because the cheese I bought, a pre-grated mix called Quatro Frommagio, didn't melt very well? Maybe it was because I got impatient and took the quesadilla out of the pan as soon as I finished eating my avocado? I don't know, I can't figure it out. I have not supplied a recipe since you likely know how to make a quesadilla better than I.

Visual Tour of Polyface Farm:

Meat birds live on grass under floorless pens. Every morning Joel Salatin drags the pen to a fresh patch of grass. Each patch of grass rests 364 days before a group of chickens feeds on it again.

Joel Salatin dragging one of his floorless chicken pens.

The Eggmobile

The eggmobile houses laying hens. It follows the herd of cattle, arriving to grass they've grazed on four days earlier.The hens peck at the four-day-old cow pies, eating various insects, larvae and parasites - rich sources of protein - and accomplishing a whole lot more along the way: By eating the fly larvae and parasites, they rid the land of potential pathogens and disease; by scratching through the droppings and spreading them across the grass, they enable the manure to sink into the ground and fertilize the soil; and by eating the pesky insects, they reduce the presence of one of the cows' biggest irritants.

Joel Salatin

Salatin, surrounded by his laying hens, explains the cow-chicken symbiosis on his farm. Salatin refers to his laying hens as his "sanitation crew."

Shademobile

Cows graze on a fresh patch of grass every day, enclosed by portable electric fencing. This portable shademobile travels to each new patch of grass too, always allowing the cows shelter from the sun.

Gobledygo

The gobledygo, a portable shelter for turkeys, also follows the cows. The same symbiotic relationship described above exists between these turkeys and the cows.

The Raken House

Rabbits and chickens coexist in the Raken House. Rabbits live in cages suspended from the ceiling. Chickens roam around on the ground below, scratching the bedding, performing the same "sanitation" duties as described above with the cows.

The Raken House

In the center of the Raken House stand trough-like structures where the hens lay their eggs.

The Raken House

Salatin holds a baby rabbit for a little girl to see.

The Barn

Joel Salatin stands in the open-sided shelter where his cows spends a portion of the winter. During the winter, the cows eat hay (dried grass accumulated throughout the growing season), and live on a bedding consisting of woodchips, sawdust and old hay to absorb the cows' excrement. When the heavy cows tread on their nitrogen-rich manure and on the carbon-rich bedding, packing it together, they allow the mixture to ferment (anaerobic composting). By adding corn to the bedding, Salatin entices his pigs to turn the bedding into compost: When the cows return to pasture in March, the pigs dig through the densely packed bedding, searching for the tasty fermented corn, aerating the pile and turning it into compost for the spring.

The Happiest Pigs Ever

Pigs on Polyface Farm are "finished" in the forest. They spend their final weeks feasting on high-protein nuts and tree bark. This diet purportedly gives their meat great flavor as well as makes their fat healthier — Salatin calls this meat "olive oil pork."

How To Cut a Lemon or A Lime

Step 1: Cut straight down, just to the right of center.

Step Two:

Turn so the cut side is flat on the board. Make another cut just to the right of center.

Step Three:

Repeat step two: Turn; and cut straight down just to the right of center.